Domenico Savatta, MD FACS

09/26/2026

After almost 30 years of treating kidney stones, I know how many questions patients have after a scan or a painful episode. Can the stone pass? Why does it hurt? What are the treatment options?

We’ve brought those questions together in Innovative Urology’s seven-page kidney-stone hub. I reviewed the guides, which cover stone passage, laser treatment, shock-wave lithotripsy, PCNL for larger stones, prevention, and emergency warning signs.

Start here:
https://www.innovativeurology.com/conditions/kidney-stones

There’s also a separate FindAUrologist guide to a question that deserves careful evaluation: can a stone hurt when it isn’t blocking urine? It explains what the evidence does—and does not—tell us, and questions to bring to your urologist:
https://findaurologist.com/resources/nonobstructing-kidney-stone-pain

Use these resources to prepare for a conversation about your own imaging and symptoms. They don’t replace an individual evaluation.

A source-based guide to chronic or noncolicky pain reported with selected nonobstructing renal stones, the limits of current evidence, and questions to ask a urologist.

09/07/2026

What does the prostate size on your scan actually mean?

This Modern Prostate Institute guide explains how prostate size changes with age, how volume is measured, and why the number needs to be considered alongside symptoms and other findings.

It includes an age-reference chart, an interactive illustration showing the urine passage through the prostate, and a calculator for dimensions from an imaging report. I reviewed the clinical content.

Use it to understand your report and prepare questions for your clinician. It is an educational guide, not a diagnosis or a treatment recommendation.

Read the guide:

Measured prostate volume rises with age on average, but the spread inside each decade is wide, and the number depends on how it was measured. This guide gives cited ultrasound averages by decade, explains what a 40, 50, or 65 cc result usually means, shows the two formulas behind the number, and inc...

09/04/2026

The traditional medical system organizes care around encounters. I believe we need to organize care around the patient.

My engineering background taught me to study systems, question established approaches, measure performance, and keep improving. From that perspective, healthcare fragmentation is a design failure. Patients move between offices, hospitals, imaging centers, specialists, and portals, but their information and experience rarely move with them.

Care should begin when someone realizes they may have a medical problem—not when they enter the exam room. Their imaging, pathology, procedure history, and records should be organized and portable enough for the next physician to use. The website, app, AI, staff, telemedicine, office, and hospital may be separate operationally; the patient should experience one continuous system of care.

The goal is not to put more technology between physicians and patients. It is to use technology in the background to remove administrative friction and create more time for judgment, conversation, and empathy. Ambient documentation is one example: when technology handles more of the clerical burden, physicians can spend more time practicing medicine.

Thank you to Pat Williams and iScribe Health for the thoughtful conversation.

Listen to “How Technology Can Restore the Human Side of Medicine”: https://lnkd.in/d_n7YTdb

Original iScribe Health post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/trulyintegrated-healthcareai-urology-share-7501265068958056448-qb2G/

Technology should not replace physician judgment. It should strengthen it. On the latest episode of Truly Integrated, iScribe Co-Founder and CEO Pat Williams speaks with Dr. Domenico Savatta, a board-certified urologist, robotic surgeon, engineer, and founder of Innovative Urology. Together, they ex...

08/21/2026

Fact-check: the viral “gym pen*s” explanation goes further than the evidence.

A temporary change in flaccid appearance during exercise is plausible. But the small running study behind this conversation measured scrotal temperature—not pe**le length. It does not prove a 20–50% decrease, a fixed recovery window, or that a sauna is a medical treatment.

Something more important is documented: some men experience pe**le shortening after radical prostatectomy. Studies suggest a combination of early anatomic repositioning and, in some patients, neurovascular injury, reduced oxygenation, and fibrosis. The amount and recovery course vary.

This should be part of informed consent and postoperative follow-up—not reduced to a viral percentage. Persistent change or new erectile dysfunction deserves an individual conversation with the treating urologist.

The phrase ‘gym pen*s’ makes for an attention-grabbing headline, but the evidence is less dramatic than the article suggests.

08/20/2026

Promising early work in endourology: a first-in-human study evaluated the Virtuoso Endoscopy System for transurethral en bloc excision of bladder lesions. In six patients with 12 lesions, all 12 lesions were excised using an en bloc or modified en bloc technique, and detrusor muscle was present in all lesion specimens for staging.

This was a very small feasibility study. Larger studies and longer follow-up are needed before drawing conclusions about comparative safety, cancer control, or patient benefit.

Still, it is encouraging to see robotics being explored for transurethral bladder-tumor surgery. I look forward to seeing how the evidence develops.

Transurethral robotic surgery may help urologists to successfully perform en bloc resection of bladder tumor.

08/13/2026

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how hard it can be to keep everyone aligned when care involves multiple doctors, caregivers, and major decisions.

I wanted a shared virtual room that could support coordination around tumor boards, operations, and the many conversations that happen before and after. That idea became the vision behind Request It and its first concept, the Connect Room.

Request It is a product we are building—not medical advice, not a replacement for a patient’s care team, and not a promise of outcomes. The aim is to explore a clearer way for patients, caregivers, and clinicians to stay connected around care.

LA Strategy Institute is helping shape the need and how it should work. LA Digital Systems is building the software.

This is still in development, and I’m excited to share the journey.

More about the broader system: https://lastrategyinstitute.com/

08/12/2026

A patient recently asked me a simple question:

“Can I please have my robotic surgery video?”

My answer: Yes. And I think we should be talking about why this isn’t already routine.

Modern robotic surgery gives us an extraordinary view of the operation. When that video is available and can be appropriately released, I believe patients should have the opportunity to receive a copy of their own surgery.

It’s your operation. Why shouldn’t you be able to see what was done?

Of course, surgical video can be graphic and doesn’t replace the operative report or a conversation with your surgeon. But used appropriately, I think it can be another way technology improves patient education and transparency.

I wrote about this in my latest newsletter and asked several leading robotic surgeons to weigh in.

What do you think? Would you want a copy of your surgery video?

Read it here:

“Can I please have my robotic surgery video?” A patient recently asked me this question. My answer was simple: Yes.

08/01/2026

Would you try an AI therapy?

A recent six-week NEJM AI study followed 486 undergraduate students using an AI-enabled well-being app. Some positive well-being measures improved, but the study did not show significant changes in depression, anxiety, or stress. It was short, used a nonclinical college sample, and did not test an app as a replacement for a clinician.

Comment with one answer by Saturday, August 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET:

A — Would not try

B — Would try an app that is an extension of the clinician

C — Would try an app that replaces the clinician

Research and context:

https://www.innovativeurology.com/resources/ai-in-medicine-polls

I have business interests in healthcare technology and AI-adjacent companies.

Educational only — not medical advice, and comments here don’t create a doctor-patient relationship.

This week's source-linked discussion prompt about artificial intelligence in health care.

07/19/2026

One point I completely agree with is that AI gives independent private practices a real opportunity to thrive again.

AI has allowed me to build a software company focused on creating the tools my practice actually needs—not the tools designed for the average health system. As a result, I’m able to deliver more personalized, efficient, and comprehensive care than I could when I was part of a large healthcare organization.

I believe the future isn’t AI replacing physicians—it’s AI empowering independent physicians to provide better care than ever before.

01/29/2026

Proud moment for patient safety.
About 8 years ago, I developed the Savatta-style lateral positioner to help make lateral (retroperitoneal) surgery safer and more stable for patients—especially during longer cases where pressure points can become a real risk.
I’m very happy to see these positioning strategies being used more widely, and even happier to see outcomes data supporting the benefit. A recent Urology Practice quality-improvement paper, “Under Pressure,” reported that after implementing improved lateral positioning support (including The Pink Pad system), the team saw:
✅ Fewer hospital-acquired pressure injuries (4.6% → 1%)
✅ No elevated CK events (11.8% → 0)
✅ No clinical rhabdomyolysis (2.6% → 0)
It’s a good reminder that the “little” things in the OR—like positioning—can make a huge difference for patients.

Introduction:The purpose of this study was to present a retrospective quality improvement analysis assessing the incidence and factors associated with elevated creatine kinase (CK) levels, clinical rhabdomyolysis, and hospital-acquired pressure injuries (...